JD(U) parliamentarian in Rajya Sabha Harivansh Narayan Singh was on Thursday elected as the new Deputy Chairperson of the Upper House after he won the election with 125 ayes against 105 noes.

The ruling NDA fielded Singh as its candidate and sources in the BJP according to various reports said he had expected to get the support of 126 members in the Upper House, which has an effective strength of 244 MPs.

Addressing the Rajya Sabha, Modi said, "He (Singh) has been blessed with the talent of writing. He was also a favourite of former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar ji. Modi, while praising the new deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha on a lighter note, said that he hopes there will be harikripa (God's blessings) in the House under Harivansh.

The election in the Rajya Sabha was conducted by Chairman Venakaiah Naidu more than once as some mistakes had crept in initially.
Singh was pitted against the Opposition's candidate BK Hariprasad, who is a three-time MP. Various parties including the Samajwadi Party, NCP, BSP, DMK, CPI, CPM and also TMC, TDP extended support to the joint Opposition's candidate.

Toon by Manjul

Hariprasad is a Congress leader who represents Karnataka in Rajya Sabha. He has been a general secretary of the All India Congress Committee for 18 years and has served as a party in-charge of Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Jharkhand.

The Congress had claimed on Wednesday that the Opposition has a "formidable and better candidate" in Hariprasad with numbers on his side.